NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 319 



other species belonging to the same genus. For example, the 

 Desert Wheatear is too large in comparison with the Black- 

 throated Wheatear or the Common Wheatear, while the wing is 

 too small for the body. The figure of the Bluethroat looks 

 clumsy by the side of the Common and Black Kedstarts, the bill 

 and legs being much too robust, and the eye too large. This 

 undue enlargement of the eye, by the way, has spoilt many of 

 Mr. Neale's otherwise satisfactory cuts. Nor is Mr. Keulemans 

 beyond criticism in his drawing for this work, his cut of the 

 Tawny Pipit being very heavy compared with the succeeding cut 

 of Bichard's Pipit ; the head much too large, and the legs more 

 like those of a Thrush than a Pipit. In the same way the 

 engraving of the Water Pipit overpowers the smaller and more 

 delicately-drawn figures of Pipits in the original ' Yarrell.' 



But there is no need to pursue criticism further. Mr. 

 Saunders has conferred a real boon on all lovers of birds by 

 undertaking what (for want of a better name) we may term the 

 one- volume ' Yarrell.' It is no easy matter to compile from the 

 most authentic sources as much desirable information as can be 

 compressed into less than two pages of type ; but, so far as we 

 may judge by the parts already published, the success of the 

 work is guaranteed, and it will be all the greater by reason of the 

 publisher's punctuality in the monthly issue of the parts. 



Birdsnesting and Birdskinning : a complete Description of the 

 Nests and Eggs of Birds which breed in Britain. By 

 Edward Newman. Second Edition. Bevised and Re- 

 written, with Directions for their Collection and Preserva- 

 tion ; and a chapter on Birdskinning. By Miller Christy. 

 Fcap. 8vo, pp. 138. London : T. Fisher Unwin. 1888. 



Eight-and-twenty years ago (alas ! how time flies !) the 

 late Edward Newman, at the suggestion of the present writer, 

 published, under the title of ' Birdsnesting,' a little handy volume 

 designed to give, in a condensed form, accurate information 

 respecting the nests and eggs of birds which breed in Great 

 Britain and Ireland. Some of the MS. as it was first designed 

 in 1860, is now before us, and we can scarcely believe that so 

 many years have elapsed since the idea was first conceived, 

 discussed, and executed. Yet so it is; and the little book has 



